Peter Parker and the Field Trip from Hell
by Wowzaitsamanatee
Summary: I think you can figure out what this is about. Rated T for language.
1. Chapter 1

**I'm writing really short chapters for this, sorry.**

**Chapter 1 **

Peter could blame his lack of attention during Mr. Harrington's lecture on plenty of different things. He could consider the tiring patrols of the night before, featuring a shoplifter, two muggers, one robbery, and the most stubborn cat Peter had ever rescued (and he'd rescued a lot of stubborn cats). There was also the fact Flash had been especially determined to taunt him today about various aspects of his being, ranging from his lack of money to his so-called fake interview at Stark Industries. Not to mention that MJ sat diagonal from Peter in this particular class and was doodling in a notebook with loose hairs tucked behind her ear, in an all too cute way.

Regardless of the reason, Peter had slipped into his own thoughts about two sentences into the class.

"Peter."

Awareness of his surrounding rushing back into his senses. He hadn't even realized he had zoned out, but it was nice to give his senses a break, anyway, since they were almost always on edge at night. Another reason he could be so distracted.

"Peter?"

"Huh? ...Oh yeah, sorry, spaced out" Most of the class had already gotten out of their seats. He hastily grabbed his books and got up, too. They had only walked a couple of feet into the hallway, however, before Ned swerved into the boys bathroom, dragging Peter with him. He checked under each of the stalls before turning to Peter with a look of both worry and excitement. Peter just stared at him confusedly, waiting for Ned to explain his erratic behavior.

"Sooo… what are you going to do?" Ned finally asked.

"What am I going to do…?"

"About the field trip!" Ned gave Peter an incredulous look.

"Oh shit, did Mr. Harrington announce the field trip? God, I've been so out of it lately." He rubbed a hand over his face and up to his hair. The end of year Academic Decathlon field trip was the most anticipated field trip all year. Last year the team had gone to the White House and met the president, among many members of Congress. It was a pretty unforgettable experience. The year before they had gone to Oscorp. That was definitely an unforgettable experience ( or for Peter at least.)

Peter had assumed that Mr. Harrington would wait until decathalon practice later that day to announce the field trip, but given how excited Mr. Harrington got about these things, and how most of the class was on the team anyway, it really wasn't surprising that he didn't wait.

"So you didn't hear?" Ned asked, his face again in that worried/excited look.

"No, I zoned out for like... all of class"

"Oh… well we have homework by the way"

"Ned!"

"Right! Sorry… so you _really_ didn't hear?" Ned started fidgeting with hands the way he normally did when he was nervous.

"No!" Peter was getting tired of the suspense. "Where are we going!?" Ned let out an audible sigh and said:

"Ok, but you're not going to like this… we're going to Stark Industries"

_What. _was the only thing that came into Peter's head at that moment.

_What._

"Or the avenger tower to be exact. But I was worried since… well…. don't you practically live there?" Ned went on.

"No…" Peter said stubbornly, unable to fully process what was happening. The team was going to Stark Tower. _He _was going to Stark Tower. _He _was going to Stark Tower, but as a student. It took his brain a second to decide if this was good thing or a bad thing. _Bad thing, _it decided, _definitely a bad thing_.

"Do you think Mr. Stark knows?" His friend asked, naive to the problem that was becoming clearer and clearer in Peter's mind.

"Oh, he definitely knows" Peter said with a dry laugh. "It was probably him who planned it" Ned seemed to lose focus at that.

"_Iron-Man _planned _our_ field trip?!" His eyes bugged out, and he jumped up and down a little as he said: "That's sooo cool. Do you think we'll get to meet him? Oh my god, do you think we'll meet Captain America? Or _the _Black Widow? Or…" He stopped when he saw Peter's half lidded face. "Right, sorry"

Peter's watch buzzed a little, telling him the bell is about to ring. The watch had been a gift from Tony for his birthday, among other things. It was "complete with full texting, calling, and vitals-tracking abilities, and some other stuff" to quote what Tony said, which Peter was sure meant it had a locational tracker as well, but he didn't mind. He liked the idea that Tony cared enough to do that.

"We gotta go" He said holding up his watch hand. "And, you know, you've met most of the avengers already, anyways" he added as they hurried to their next class.

"I know… but that doesn't make this whole thing less cool!" Ned responded when they walked into the classroom.

**Reviews are always appreciated (:**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The more Peter thought about, the more obvious Tony's plan became in his mind. Tony was probably going have someone to bring the team in, get random avengers to come by and say hi to Peter, just enough to make his classmates impressed and embarrass Peter thoroughly. And Tony wasn't wrong, it would totally work. The longer Peter thought about it, the more he realized that the only way to get out of it would be to not go on the field trip. And so he planned to ask May not to go.

"Absolutely not" May cut him off, without turning around from the pot on the stove.

"Whyyyy not?" Peter whined

"Because you've had to many unexcused absences already from all your… _spidey stuff._" She always got quiet when she talked about his alter ego, as though she thought someone might be listening into their Queens apartment. Besides that, she was pretty ok with all of it. At first she had freaked out a bit, demanding that she talk to Mr. Stark, but after some talking to, and some consoling, she calmed down. Now, she let him patrol, as long as he was back in time for dinner. Of course May didn't know about all the times he had snuck out afterwards.

"And besides…" she said, a mischievous smile growing on her face. "Mr. Stark called me, and told me specifically to make you go, sooo" She signed the permission slip he got at decathlon practice in a loopy movement and handed it back to Peter. He groaned and took it from her before heading to his room. He fell on his bed and pulled out his phone to check his texts.

_**Losers (and MJ)**_

**ItsMJ **_Hey, so we're going to Stark Tower._

Peter started to reply:

**Spidey_peter** _yeah ik I was there_

She got back to him quickly:

**ItsMJ **_Come on, you clearly weren't paying attention. _

**ItsMJ** _Anyone who looked at you could tell._

Peter smiled as he replied:

**Spidey_peter** _so u were looking at me?_

**ItsMJ **_You should just be happy I'm the only one._

**ChairGuy **_aw you guys are too cute_

**Spidey_peter **_shut up ned_

He and MJ had gone out a couple times, though it was still a casual/awkward thing really. Ned of course, was constantly pushing together like the wingman that he is.

**ItsMJ **_Well, like I was saying, this is going to be the perfect time to put Flash in his place._

**Spidey_peter **_if by saying "his place" u mean his grave then yea perfect time_

**Spidey_peter **_if the avengers find out he's been messing with me then they will probably kill him_

**ChairGuy **"_Messing with you" is a pretty mild way to put that_

**ChairGuy **_didn't he push you into the lockers like 4 times today_

**ItsMJ **_Well now I want to kill him, too._

**ChairGuy** _no!_

**Spidey_peter **_thank u_

**ChairGuy **_don't kill him. Just kick him off the decathlon team. That way it's less messy_

**Spidey_peter **_wut_

**ItsMJ **_Ah yes, I like your style. _

**Spidey_peter **_guyyys plz stop_

**ItsMJ** _Chill out, I'm kidding._

**ItsMJ **_And I mean, it's kinda nice you have all these people who care for you._

Peter cringed a that, realizing how insensitive he was being. Even though they constantly messed with him, the avengers definitely cared for him. They were like a second family to him. MJ on the other hand just had her father. Her dirtbag, drug-head father who had definitely abused her a couple times. Peter was _this close _to having "Spider-Man" show up and "knock some sense" into him. But MJ wouldn't want that, just like Peter didn't want the Avengers to "knock some sense" into Flash.

**Spidey_peter **_sorry MJ I didn't mean that_

**ItsMJ **_It's fine._

**ItsMJ **_Idiot._

And… she was back.

**Spidey_peter **_And that's not true _

**Spidey_peter **_That no one cares to stand up for u_

**ItsMJ **_I didn't say that._

**Spidey_peter **_Ok...just sayin_

**ItsMJ **_Anyway... what are you going to do?_

**Spidey_peter **_About wut _

**ItsMJ **_About the field trip… god you have the memory of a fruit fly._

**Spidey_peter **_Right sry trying to forget about it_

**Spidey_peter **_Idk I guess I'll just have to bear _

**ItsMJ **_Oh my god, you'll have to just sit by while famous superheros shower you with love in front of your peers._

**ItsMJ **_Oh have mercy on you, save you from this travesty!_

**Spidey_peter **_Sarcasm will get you nowhere_

**ItsMJ **_Tell that to the creator of Sarcasm Weekly. _

**ItsMJ **_You'll be fine._

**ChairGuy **_Ok I'm going to go I feel like I'm barely part of this convo anyways_

**ChairGuy **_Ciao_

**Spidey_peter **_Baiiiii Ned_

**Spidey_peter **_I gtg too I got some homework to pretend like I know wut I'm doing_

**ItsMJ **_Ok._

**ItsMJ **_Bye losers._

He shut his phone off and pulled out his binder. The boy stared at the permission slip for a second, sighed, and then put it in the binder and got out his homework. MJ was right, it was all going to be fine.


	3. Chapter 3

**So sorry about taking so long to update. School, ya know. Also I edited this chapter more, so hopefully its better quality.**

Chapter 3

It was not all going to be fine. Peter knew this the moment he walked into the Avengers common rooms to find the majority of the Avengers sitting at the table, with Tony standing dramatically up front. This was worrisome for a couple reasons. First off, the members of the team were really rarely all together, even at meals or occasions _someone_ was always off doing something science-y or hero-y. And especially now that the term "avenger" was so loosely thrown around to describe almost any superhero. But it seemed like the bulk of them were here at this moment. At the front was Tony Stark, and next to him, moving clockwise, was Rhodey, then Scott Lang, Natasha Romanoff, Vision, Wanda Maximoff and Sam Wilson. At the other end was Steve Rogers and along the other side was Bucky Barnes, Thor, Clint Barton, Bruce Banner and Pepper Potts.

The second reason Peter was worried was the fact that the moment they saw him walk in, about every hero pretended to be suddenly interested in the room around them. If he hadn't been so nervous about why, Peter might of found it funny that a room full of intergalactic superheroes couldn't keep a poker face. Tony, who was now sitting down looking at his phone, was the first one to say something.

"Hey Pete, how was school?"

"You tell me" Peter retorted, eyes half lidded.

Tony feigned a look of confusion and offense.

"I don't know whatever you mean"

He held up the permission slip, still with a look of annoyance.

"Pete, ya know you're the only one with advanced eyesight" Peter rolled his eyes and walked over to slam the paper on the table in front of him.

"Know anything about this?" Tony read the paper in front of him and then looked over to Pepper looking almost genuinely surprised. _Almost._

"I had no idea...Pep did you know Pete's class was coming _here _for a _field trip_?"

"No idea" Pepper shrugged.

The rest of the avengers were watching this interaction with looks of poorly hidden glee. They had no doubt been planning every conceivable way they could embarrass him completely in front of his classmates. Peter could only imagine how they were going to react when they saw the way his classmates treated him. Well, not classmate_s_… classmate. Flash (and his posse of can't-do-anything-themselves thugs but they don't really count) we're going to be in for it. Something in the back of Peter's head was sort of excited about that, but it was quickly squashed when he remembered that the avengers would assemble basically to "protect" Peter. And Flash wasn't even that bad anymore! Ned was exaggerating when he said Flash had shoved Peter into the lockers four times that day. It had only been once, and he barely pushed him.

The more he repeated this in his head, the less substantial it felt.

"Ok look" Peter put on his brave face, which to the rest of the avengers resembled an especially angry toddler. "I know what you guys are up to here, but let me make this very clear. You will, under no circumstances, act any different then you normally would around any other group of high schoolers."

"Yes… well I'm not speaking for everyone here, but I don't know too many high schoolers. Should I be researching vines? Reading up on my memes? How many times should I use the word lit?" Clint teased. Peter suddenly felt very sorry for Lila Barton.

"But I promise we definitely won't do anything to embarrass you.''Steve said, looking more sincere than the rest of them. Peter shot him a grateful smile, or the grateful-est smile his anxiety would let him.

"Pete, don't worry I'll keep them in check" Tony assured him. Not that that helped.

"That's what I'm worried about"

"Ouch" Tony put a hand to his chest "do you mean to say I'm not "mature". I own a multi-million dollar company, I might remind you."

"Everyone knows Pepper does everything, Tony." Peter said as he grabbed his stuff to bring to his room. His room. His room that he had in Stark Towers. Every once and a while he was reminded of how crazy it all was. This was not one of those time though.

"He's not grateful of me, after all I've done for him" Tony teased, as Peter walked away. "You give a kid a suit, a room, everything they could possibly need…"

Peter slammed his door and was instantly met with sweet, happy silence.

**It's short I know, but I've already started the next. Reviews are always appreciated!**


	4. Chapter 4

**This chapters slightly strange. I've been writing super late at night so this is really the product of sleep deprivation.**

Chapter 4

The days leading up to the field trip were filled with the typical "now remember: you're going to be representing your school" type thing as Mr. Harrington got more frazzled, although he seemed more worried about the kids embarrassing _him_ in front of the Avengers rather than the school. Anyone who ever had him as a teacher knew he had posters of them up in his office. Peter just didn't have the heart to tell him the most of his idols would probably join in any shenanigans his decathlon team pulled. Not that anyone would believe him anyway.

Mr. Harrington wasn't the only one acting differently as the field trip neared. Everyone on the team was noticeably more excited. Even Flash, who expressed his excitement through annoying Peter more and more.

"Hey Penis, how are you going to keep lying about your internship after the trip?"

"Can you introduce me to Tony Stark, oh wait you don't know him."

"I can't wait to expose—"

"Flash if he was lying, why wouldn't he just confess now and save himself the pain?" MJ had interrupted this time. She and Ned were constantly annoyed the Peter didn't stand up for himself against Flash, especially since, as Ned would say, he could "crush him like it's nothing." Peter always explained to them that that would just cause more problems. They always disagreed. It was a thing.

Peter, however, did still have that little, traitorous part of him that still was excited to see Flash's face when he found out that he not only interned for a Tony Stark, but knew the other Avengerstoo. Sometimes Peter liked to imagine Flash's face if he did learn that he had been bullying Spider Man, his idol, for three years now, but he had to quickly remind himself that that would be bad. He doubted Flash would keep his secret for shit.

On Friday he still went to Stark Tower after school, even though he was technically mad at everyone except Steve. Being mad at the Avengers is hard, however, since they could all kick your ass and simultaneously guilt trip you about them "just caring too much". So in reality, it was more like a prolonged pout.

"Ok… look I'm sorry for planning an amazing field trip for you ok?" Tony finally said after sitting in heavy silence for a couple minutes. Peter's silence was slightly unnerving to Tony. Ususally when they worked in the lab, Peter would start talking about something nerdy and never stop. So much so, that Tony had a mental list of topics that could get Pete to stop ranting and take a breath.

"That's not really much of an apology" Peter retorted, smiting _very_ slightly at his mentor's ego.

"Look...what's the worst that could possibly happen?" Tony sighed leaning over the piece of armor he was working on.

"All of a sudden everyone's wants to bombard me questions about you guys and what I do?" Peter replied feeling even more stressed.

"And exactly want wrong with your classmates being interested in you?" Tony asked still not looking up from what he was doing.

"I don't want it! Or.. I mean I want them to _like _me but not just because I know some famous people."

"Wow, you and I are very different." Tony looked up at the exasperated kid finally. Friday's alarm went off, telling the two people it was time for Peter to go. The kid started gathering his stuff up.

"And thank goodness for that" Peter said with a half joking/half serious face as he crossed the lab to the elevator.

"Hey!" Tony calles out behind him before the doors closed.

On the car ride home, Peter watched the storefronts go by with glazy eyes. Something was bothering him, something he couldn't put his finger on. He kept thinking about Tony's question: "what's the worst that could happen?". He didn't want his classmates to be weird around him, but that hardly seemed like a reason for his overwhelming anxiety about this trip. Was he worried about people finding out about Spider-Man? _No…_ he knew the Avengers would never risk his identity in any way. So why was he so on edge about this trip?

_Sigh._

This is just his crazy, anxious self making a big deal out of nothing. He needed to watch some Brooklyn Nine Nine.

Well, in Peter's opinion everyone needs to watch Brooklyn Nine Nine.

**Jeez, I'm sorry they're always so short, I don't realize how short they are when I'm writing them.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Each chapter keeps getting shorter, I'm so sorry! Anyway, I wanted to switch things up from the other "field trip fics".**

Chapter 5

One day until the field trip and Peter's nerves were worse than ever. Throughout classes that day he fidgeted and tapped, so much so that people asked if he was ok. When a teacher called on him (and asked him a question he totally knew the answer to) he nearly jumped on the ceiling. _Nearly._

And he couldn't focus at all, his mind whirring from one thing to the next.

_Trip… Stress… Avengers… MJ… Embarrassing… Danger… Spid— wait._

_What was that one?_

_Danger_

He put his hands over his eyes trying to concentrate on the feeling. Danger? What does that mean? What danger? He was safe right now. Aunt May was at work, so she was probably fine. Tony could take care of himself. What "danger" was he worried abou— was this his "peter tingle"? His sixth sense hadn't been too reliable in the past, it basically only worked in a (literally) life or death situation. Maybe that's why he wouldn't recognize it. But why was in going off now? He was starting to get dizzy. He kind of remembered mumbling something about water and leaving the classroom. Was there going to be danger on the trip? What w—

"Peter, come on" Someone was saying to him. He vaguely recognized the voice. Feeling was coming back to his hands. Had they been numb before?

"Peter, come on, you're ok" There was something cool beneath him. The floor. He was on the floor… why? He then realized that his eyes were closed, which was probably a contributing factor to his confusion. He opened them to see Ned and MJ standing in front of him in the right hallway.

"What's going on?" Peter squinted at them, the fluorescents too bright.

"You ran out of the room a- and then you just collapsed in the hallway" Ned said quickly, looking pretty shaken up too.

"It was an anxiety attack. You had an anxiety attack. A bad one, too, it lasted for longer than usual" MJ stated with a look of painful understanding.

"Holy shit" Peter put his head in his knees, breathing heavily. MJ sat down beside him and put her head on his shoulder, while Ned sat on the other side, his hand on Peter's other shoulder. They sat like that until the bell rang, then quickly got up so they wouldn't be trampled by high schoolers trying to get home. Peter supposed he was going to have to explain to his teacher later why he ran out, but he really couldn't be bothered with that at that moment. Once the three grabbed their stuff and started walking home, the questions began.

"So… do you want to tell us what's up" Ned said cautiously.

"Not particularly"

"Peter, are you sure? It'll probably help" MJ offered

"I'm fine" he insisted, speeding up. "I'm going to swing home, I've got some homework."

"Peter, wait, hold on" He could hear his friend saying, but he had already pulled his mask over his face. He secured his backpack on his back (especially made by Tony so he wouldn't have to keep webbing them up in an alleyway) and scaled the nearest wall.

Peter had found that swinging through New York City on spiderwebs was an extremely cathartic experience. The wind against your face and the rush of dropping and catching as you gain momentum. He often though it was too bad everyone couldn't do it. But today he was not feeling it. Even as he landed on one of the taller buildings in Brooklyn, jumped off and free fell for a couple of seconds before catching the next building, he couldn't escape the pit in his stomach.

After two weeks of this anxious feeling, he finally broke down. He landed on a ledge that was fairly out of view and just crumpled. He curled into a ball, tears streaming down his face. It wasn't because he was confused or scared of what he was feeling. It was because he thought this would never happen again. He thought he was done with anxiety attacks and spiraling out of control. Because this wasn't his first rodeo.

After his parents died when he was little, Peter used to wake up screaming and not being able to calm down. He would think of something scary and not be able to stop think about it. He would imagine Aunt May and Uncle Ben dying, and spiral out of control. But May and Ben got him help and he got better. Then Ben _did_ die, years later, but it had the same affec. And that, with him getting powers and becoming a superhero? It was too much. A week after Ben's funeral, May found Peter rolled into a ball on his bed, rocking back and forth. When she got closer, she saw there was a bloodied knife beside him, matching a gash on his forearm. After that she got him a therapist who, despite not knowing half of the thing Peter was stressed about, did help. And Peter got better again.

So now when he was feeling the same pit in his stomach, the same feeling that he can't escape, he couldn't help crying. And he sat there for a while, crying and thinking. Eventually, once he had calmed down a bit, he made a decision. He couldn't put Aunt May through that again, nor MJ and Ned. Nor Tony. So he would get through it on his own this time. He could do it, he was strong. He's _Spider-Man_!

_I'm Spider-Man _

He wasn't going to let it get bad again

**I think I might revise this later, but whatever there it is. Reviews are always appreciated! (:**


	6. Chapter 6

He woke up the next morning feeling surprisingly calm. Like eerily calm. So much so that he started getting worried about why he wasn't worried.

_No. Don't be stupid, Parker_. _Chill out. _

He pushed all of the thoughts he had been having the night before way to the back of his mind, and got ready for the stupid field trip. (Just because he wasn't feeling his anxiety doesn't mean he was happy about the trip.) He said good morning to Aunt May, grabbed a granola bar and his bag, and was off. On his way down the stairs he pulled out his phone.

_Nineteen messages, shit!_

He had forgotten to turn his phone back on after his… breakdown. He opened up and ignored the anxious feeling from thinking about his attack.

_**Losers (and MJ)**_

_Delivered at 8:36 pm_

**ChairGuy **_look sorry about all the questions _

**ChairGuy **_we were just worried_

**ItsMJ **_Yeah, dude, I'm sorry, but please respond._

**ItsMJ **_I'm still worried._

**ChairGuy **_just text back?_

**ChairGuy **_for meeeee(:_

**ItsMJ** _Please respond._

**ItsMJ **_You're our friend, please. _

**ChairGuy **_come on Pete _

_Delivered at 9:54 pm_

**ItsMJ **_Really, Peter, or I'm going to get angry._

**ItsMJ **_And I'm scary when I'm angry._

**ItsMJ **_Or so I'm told. _

**ChairGuy **_it's true_

**ItsMJ **_Jokes aside, just text back to confirm you're okay. _

**ChairGuy **_come on dude you're really kinda scaring us_

**ItsMJ** _I don't think he's going to respond._

**ChairGuy **_yeah ok _

**ChairGuy **_see u tomorrow Pete _

**ItsMJ **_Same_.

_Read at 7:10 am_

He cringed as he typed his quick response.

**Spidey_peter **_I'm ok_

**Spidey_peter **_sry_

He sighed and shoved his phone into his pocket. There was no need to get into specifics.

"I hate you" MJ hit Peter when she saw him later that morning. "You have an anxiety attack, and then you run off? And _then _you don't respond to anyone. You had Ned and I freaking out."

"I texted you this morning" He retorted defensively. Ned was walking up to them from the other side of the street. He wasn't looking angry, exactly, since he's a self-described "low key pacifist" but extremely concerned to say the least.

"Yeah, 'I'm fine'" She mocked with air quotes and a dopey voice. "That's all. You know me well enough to know that I'm going to something better to stop me from worrying."

"Look I'm sorry, I turned my phone off last night and I forgot to turn it back on when I got home, ok? As for running off… I just… needed some space." Peter could feel the anxiety creeping in, but he quickly pushed it back.

"And I get that more than anyone, but just... consider talking to me or me or Ned or May… or Tony Stark for crying out loud. Just know we're here."

"Yeah ok" Peter said, desperate to change the topic. Ned had reached them now, looking like he wanted to have a similar conversation until Peter stopped him. "Hey, Ned, so I was thinking that we should get together next weekend to watch all the Star Wars movies in preparation for the new one."

"Yeah ok that sounds good, but…"

"Yeah I know, 'do we really have to have to watch the prequels?' but I think yes, for consistency, you know?" Peter continued hurrying along the way to school.

"Yeah… right." Ned said, seemingly giving up on that conversation. He ran along to catch up with Peter. MJ stood behind them for a second, watching the idiots in front of her with a mix of worry and exasperation, then rolled her eyes and also ran up to catch up.

They reached the school just as the buses pulled up to haul them to Manhattan. Flash was among the first to push himself onto the bus, with his posse of goons close behind. Peter had ridden the bus long enough to know that they would take over the last two rows, whereas Peter, Ned would sit in the middle, slightly towards the front. Betty Brant and some of her friends would stay in the front along with Mr. Harrington and the rest of the team would sorta fill in from there. The predictability of his classmates was sometimes astounding.

For most of the bus ride over he could tell MJ and Ned were staring at him as he tried to make conversation with them about anything besides his… incident. They were conversing with him like normal, but he could tell they wanted to talk about it.

_He_ didn't want to though. He never really did, but certainly not right now, not before yet another embarrassing experience he would have to add to the "Parker Luck List of Embarrassing Moments". The truth was, he never found talking about these things to be helpful. If anything it made him feel worse when he thought everyone was worrying about him. So he'll keep quiet. The teen was pretty good at handling himself, and when he was older and living on his own, then he could get a therapist or something. It just makes it hard to distract yourself from your problems when everyone else is aware of them.

Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew that this is a flawed philosophy, but for right now he clung to it, feeling emotionally incapable to address this in light of more pressing issues.

And he had officially zoned out again, content on staring out the window as Ned and MJ carried on their conversation without him. He was watching the familiar build rush by as he realized that they were almost there. The gut feeling was back, and the familiar tingle on his neck that typically told him danger was present.

_Damn spidey sense is broken. _He shoved the feeling down back into his stomach and grabbed his bag off the floor so he'd be ready to get out.

Only as they pulled into the Stark Industries parking lot did hear a familiar jeer from the back of the bus:

"Yo Parker, last chance," Flash said with a twisted smile. Peter fidgeted a little, wondering whether it would be better to try and warn Flash or let him get decimated by his second family of superheroes. Flash wouldn't listen to him anyway Peter thought as he stepped off the bus, silently.

And finally, with much anticipation, the AcaDeca team walked into the lobby of the famous Avengers Tower.


	7. Chapter 7

**Sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry. I was feeling super not motivated on this story, and I started writing another, and so I had just kinda accepted that I wasn't going to finish this. But now I've got so much time on my hands and so I'm going to try to finish this. **

Chapter 7

The lobby of the Avengers Tower was really quite what you'd expect. Tall ceilings, various extravagant light fixtures, the occasional water feature. Lots of glass, lots of desks, _lots_ of people. Most of Peter's team stared at the daunting ceiling as they walked in and he watched as wonder filled their faces. Flash's especially, although he tried to hide it, Peter knew of Flash's love for architecture. He was observant, he had to be in order to be Spider-Man, and he had seen the way Flash acted in their Architecture class, he had noticed the way the teens eyes lit up when someone brought up engineering or design. He could practically watch Flash's gears turning behind his calculating gaze.

The group's gazing was interrupted by a voice from ahead of them:

"Hi, excuse me, Midtown?" The small woman in a sweater and skinny jeans in front of them continued after Mr. Harrington nodded. She had short, curly hair and light brown skin, and her face was extremely friendly.

"I'm Meghan, or Meg. I'm going to be your tour guide today. Welcome to Stark Industries," She gestured with her arms, "Oh, hey Peter, I didn't know you'd be on this tour." The laughter in her voice was genuine which led Peter to believe that she _wasn't_ in on the plans to embarrass him, although he did wonder what the odds were that out of thousands of employees at SI, their tour guide just happened to be someone Peter had worked with on multiple occasions.

Ned elbowed him in the ribs and pointed over to Flash, who was looking confusedly from Peter to Meghan.

"I wonder if he'll be able to wrap that thick brain of his around the fact that you do work here. After weeks of denying it, I think he's started to believe himself." MJ said as she pulled out her notebook to quickly sketch Flash's dumbfounded expression. "I've got an entire section in here dedicated to Flash's faces on this trip. Not going to lie, I'm a little excited." Her voice was almost giddy, or about as giddy as Michelle Jones would ever allow her voice to get.

Peter felt a shiver down his arms and looked down to see goosebumps. He ignored it.

"Ok, now I need you guys to pay attention. I'm going to hand out your visitor passes. Now, it's very, very, _very _important that you don't lose these. These don't have specific names on them and we don't want them just laying around for anyone to use." She began handing out white badges with bold black lettering that say **VISITOR**.

"I noticed you have a different colored badge" Betty Brant said, in reference to Meg's Blue badge. She had her spiral notebook out and her reporter face on. "Could you explain the clearance levels?"

"Of course" Meg laughed, clearly amused by Betty's interest. "Well you all have white badges which are temporary. They're used for tour groups and press mostly. Then there's black badges which are for Sanitation workers and security. Red badges are for lower level interns and people who work on the more business-y side of Stark Industries. Yellow is for higher level interns and business workers. And then blue," she motioned to her badge "is for lab interns and scientists".

"If you're a scientist, then how come you're giving school tours." Cindy asked

"Ah yes… well there's a jar with a bunch of names in it, you see," the teens all laughed, "so typically someone draws a few names out and those people give tours. Actually, though, I'm just covering for someone else today, my boss asked me to."

_Aha, _Peter thought.

"Is your boss Tony Stark?" Abraham asked excitedly.

"No, haha, no, there are multiple labs upstairs, each one working on something different, and they're all managed by someone. We'll see the labs later, but we'd better get a move on now if we want to." She started moving towards the checkpoints and the group followed close behind.

"So what about the Avengers, where do they live? Do they have a clearance level?" Betty asked, pen poised.

"The top ten floors or so are where all the Avenger and high level Stark Industries stuff happens. Silver badges are for the big business people who need to meet with Stark personally or frequent visitors of residents. And then gold badges are exactly what they sound like: Tony Stark and Pepper Potts of course. And all the Avengers and a few other residents and personal assistants." She spoke as she tapped her badge against a scanner and from the speaker below Friday confirmed:

"Meghan Manning, Blue Level, No new messages" The teens looked on in excitement.

"Alright, come on now, let's get going so we can start this tour. Peter, I assume you've got your own?" Peter's cheeks felt hot and he could feel his peers' stares on him.

"Uh, yeah… so do Ned and MJ" he said, sticking a thumb at his friends behind him.

"Great, you can go ahead and go through first" She said, gesturing for Peter to walk through.

He could feel the dread in his stomach, how could he have been so stupid as to forget about this? He doesn't even need Tony here to embarrass himself. His spine shivered as he walked forward and placed his card against the scanner.

Friday's voice rang out again:

"Peter Parker, Gold Level, Two new messages: Angela Brown said you left some papers in lab 3, and Boss wanted to know if you wanted Chinese or Pizza for movie night tonight."

He walked through the gate slowly and turned around to see the looks on his classmates' faces. Some looked confused, some people had sudden understanding plastered on their faces as they remembered Peter's claimed internship, most looked simply dumbstruck. Flash, however, looked angry. The boy's eyes got even darker when Ned and MJ swiped theirs.

"Ned Leeds, Silver Level, One new message: Ms. Potts would like you to know that if you and Ms. Jones wish to stay here after your tour with Mr. Parker then she's sure that can be arranged."

"Michelle Jones, Silver Level, One new message: Ms. Potts would like you to know that if you and Mr. Leeds wish to stay here after your tour with Mr. Parker then she's sure that can be arranged."

At this point Meghan had noticed the rest of the class's faces and deduced that she was going to have to keep them moving.

"Alright, alright, come on now, let's not dawdle" The teens were ushered through by Mr. Harrington and Mr. Dell. Each of their badges swiped with a clear: "Visitor, Tour Group, Enjoy your visit to Stark Industries!"

After they had shuffled through the gates, each student turned to Peter, Ned, and MJ.

"Peter, while we walk to the elevators, do you want to tell your friends about what you do here? They all seem very interested." Meghan suggested, not truly understanding the impact of her words. All of the AcaDeca teams' eyes lit up with curiosity, spare Ned, MJ, and Flash. Peter could hear his heart beating in his ears.

"I, uh, I'm Ton- Mr. Stark's personal intern, so I- I help him in his lab and ya know, get his coffee and stuff. I'm over here a lot, hence the, he held up the gold badge, "high clearance level."

"So you're telling me you actually work here? But why would he pick _you_? How'd someone like you even get on his radar?" Flash asked smugly, finally rebounding from the initial shock of finding out Peter did, in fact, work here.

"Um, clearly you haven't worked with Peter Parker here," Meghan said with a tone like she was joking, but there was definitely a warning there, "'cause I have only a couple times, but from what I've seen and heard, he's probably smarter than half the scientists here." She had crossed over to put an arm around Peter. He smiled at her, grateful that she was defending him, but stressed knowing this was not going to end Flash's torment.

"Let's move on shall we?" Betty moved up next to Peter as they walked.

"So Peter, just how close are you to Tony Stark? I mean you're having movie night with him? And he asks for your opinion on food? How often are you here? Is the internship why you're so often late to AcaDeca? What do you help Tony Stark with? Have you ever worked with the other Avengers? Have you ever worked on their suits? Have you met Spider-Man? Are you just going to stand there or are you going to answer?" Reporter-Betty was definitely scary. On one hand he wasn't really sure if he wanted to answer all this or not, seeing as this could really only get him more attention for all this. On the other hand Peter was tired and Betty was persistent and if he got all this info out of the way now, there'd be less surprises later.

"Um let's see, we'll I'm his personal assistant so I'm around him a lot, he's sorta my… uh mentor. Yes, I am having movie night with him, it's something we do every now and then. Morgan, Tony's daughter started it. He does ask for my opinion about food, he's not as selfish as he seems. I'm here 3 to 4 times a week. Yes, I sometimes have to miss Decathlon practice because of my internship. Uh… I help him with anything he's working on, which I'm really not supposed to talk about, sorry. I, uh, have worked with Avengers occasionally, sometimes I work on their suits. And no, I've never met Spider-Man." He took a breath. The last answer was easy, he had decided not to go around telling people he knew Spider-Man. Seemed easier, and safer. When he finished they had reached the elevator, and he realized most of his classmates were listening as well, including a fuming Flash.

"The first floor we'll be going to is the 10th, to see and talk to some of the early college interns about what they do here."

"This may be you next year, so think of some questions to ask!" Mr. Dell reminded the group, as Betty nodded and began scribbling in her notebook. Meg pressed the 10th button and the elevator took off.

"And off we go" Peter tried to ignore the falling feeling in his stomach

**I'm much happier with this chapter then the res, too, especially now that we're getting into the good stuff. I'm going to try to stock up on some chapters before I publish them so it will be harder for me to fall behind. Comment are appreciated of course! Until next time, which will be soon!**


	8. Chapter 8

**I'm back and I'm keeping my promise to update every one to two days. I've already written chapters 9 and 10, and I think I've going to go on for like 4 or 5 more. Thank you for the comments! Enjoy!**

They had skipped around the 10th and 11th floors for a little, which most of the class was significantly less interested in than what was up next.

"Welcome to the Research and Development Labs," Meghan exclaimed in a thunderdome-esque voice, "This is where the most exciting stuff happens, beside whatever happens on the Avengers floors probably." Peter could attest to that, just last week a very large game of some sort of paint ball/dodge ball/capture the flag hybrid game had started spontaneously when Clint had _accidentally_ gotten finger paint on Cap's shield. Sometimes it was almost laughable how not mature the team of intergalactic superheroes actually was. Sure they saved the world a few times but the real personality of the team was the most evident when Captain America's shield is suddenly purple.

"So most of the labs on these floors is working on just one specific area of one specific project. There's biology, robotics, chemistry, physics, IT and coding. Just about any science-y subject you can think of. These are what we consider the "independent labs" so most workers in here aren't working on something specifically for Stark Industries, although most are working under a blanket SI patent. As we move upstairs we'll see some stuff that will be specifically sold by SI, and maybe even some Avengers stuff!" They continued walking through the various labs and Peter sighed. He felt a little better, he rarely was on these floors and neither were the Avengers so the chances of him running into someone he kne… were apparently high.

Cindy noticed quickly after Peter that walking towards them was _the_ Bruce Banner. His classmates took a total of 2 seconds to flock around Bruce, leaving only Peter and MJ (Ned had ran too, despite having met Bruce before). By the time Peter had made his way over, Betty was already bombarding him with questions and Sasha was going on about how many times she'd read his papers on genetic mutations. Only at midtown would a group of teenagers be more excited about meeting Bruce Banner, than the Incredible Hulk. Bruce clearly noticed this, too, smiling as he talked about DNA and whatnot. He waved at Peter when he saw him.

"Peter, you were actually who I was looking for!" Of course he was, "Tony said your group would be down here." That got a rise out of the group, _Tony Stark knew where they were?_. Bruce looked over to their, slightly bewildered too, tour guide_._ "Meghan, right, mind if I borrow Peter, the rest of the group can come, too, if you're almost done down here."

Meghan looked a little dumbfounded but smiled, "Yeah, of course, Dr. Banner"

He directed the bouncing group to the elevator and up to the top floor of labs. It opened up to a small food court with a coffee shop and some comfortable seating. All around the common area were great, big labs with glass walls. The one to the right to them had some sort of large wolf-shaped robot and a very frenzied looking young man working beside it. On the other side a woman with purple hair was writing a long equation in white board marker on one of the glass walls. Behind her one of the biggest 3-D printers the class had ever seen was creating a large cylindrical object. She smiled at them as they passed, and waved a little at Peter. Peter gave an uncomfortable wave back. His class being here was encroaching a little too much on his _other_ life. This floor he had been to often, probably the most out of all the downstairs floors.

"This is where some of the most acclaimed scientists and engineers in the world work on a day to day basis. Over here," Bruce said, as they passed an empty lab, "is where Princess Shuri of Wakanda works from time to time when she visits. I'm not sure exactly what happened in there last though," he said, referring to the knocked over chairs and explosion marks on the floor, "Peter might though, huh kid?"

Surprised to hear his name, Peter stuttered out an answer, "we were, uh, attempting to create a vibranium substitute for a project. It didn't go to well, as you can… see" he ended lamely, but not enough to disinterest his peers.

"You _know _Princess Shuri?"

"And you work with her, oh my god"

"Is she as smart as people say she is?"

"Is she as _hot_ as people say she is?"

And with that last question from a dreamy eyed Cindy, Peter was officially uncomfortable again. Flash stared at Peter with a calculating glare before he finally spoke up.

"Does she even know what she's missing? I'm still not sure how you could even get on any of these people's radar. Why do the Avengers even know you exist?" His face was cold and jealousy was evident on it. For a moment Peter felt good watching Flash be jealous of him, but that was short lived when he saw Bruce's eyes widen. The doctor's fists were clenched as he turned to Peter and offered that they move along. Peter agreed readily, seeing the hint of green above the man's left eyebrow that he got sometimes when he was angry but still in control. He was grateful Bruce had let it be, although he assumed it was because he didn't want to express his anger. They turned into Bruce's downstairs lab. Bruce had a lab upstairs, of course, but he had requested to have a space downstairs so he could work with other scientists who were not "just Tony Stark".

"So this is my downstairs lab, uh, feel free to look around, just don't touch anything, obviously. Peter come over here?" They all scattered to gawk at the contraptions and blueprints and technological displays around the lab. Bruce led Peter over to one of the holographic white boards that had a series of equations plastered on it.

"I need a fresh set of eyes, I've been working on this forever. Stark said you had just been working on something like this and I dunno, thought your class might want to see my lab, too." Peter smiled, ignoring the crawling feeling on his arms. He looked at the equation with skeptical eyes. It wasn't simple, but it for sure wasn't something the genius Bruce Banner would generally need help with, and even if he did, there were probably hundreds of accomplished scientists on this floor alone who could help.

"Was that all Tony said?" Peter asked sarcastically, taking the pen and stepping up to the board.

"Well… there may have been something about… getting you to show off in front of your class or something," Banner said sheepishly, "but I have to say, I understand his reasoning. How long has that Flash kid been messing with you?"

Peter shrugged, "He really doesn't bother me, it's not an issue." He was still looking at the equation, although not really paying attention to it.

"How long though, Peter?"

"Since 6th grade, we went to middle school together, too." Peter's voice got small as he said that, awaiting the older man's reaction.

"Five years, Peter? And you haven't done anything about it?" Bruce looked more surprised than angry.

"Yeah… but really it's no big deal, he's an idiot and he's easy to ignore." Peter assured, "I've got good friends, Bruce, I don't care about what he says. And you know I can't _do_ anything about it"

"Well that's not what I meant. You could tell a teacher, or your principal." He had begun to stack so,e of the scattered papers on a nearby table.

"I don't want to do that too, that would be making this a way bigger deal than it needs to be. And once Tony and others found out… well they'd blow it _way _out of proportion. You're the least likely to overall." They both chuckled dryly at the irony of that. "Just, please don't tell Tony? Please?" He put on puppy dog eyes and joked around, despite the fact that his stomach felt like it was in knots.

"You're asking me to not tell Tony Stark that his surrogate son is being picked on at school?" Peter nodded, "Fine. But only under the condition that _you_ tell him soon." Peter wilted, but agreed. He turned back to the board.

"Fine. Now stop talking to me so I can figure out this problem you already know how to solve." Bruce chuckled as he filed away the stack of papers he was holding.

**If you couldn't already tell, I have no idea what would actually happen at Stark Industries, as I know very little about any science that isn't below like middle school level, Thats why I'm being as vague as possible lol. Anyway, I'll be back tomorrow or the day after with the next chapter. buhbye!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Sorry, I'm a little behind. I haven't been feeling so good (mentally, I'm not physically sick) and I can't tell if I'm bored of my routine or if I'm so reliant on it that it's become unhealthy. Is that weird? Does that make sense? I'm okay though, and I'm still writing. Enjoy this chapter!**

Peter finished the equation with ease and most of his classmates were too busy around the room to notice. Meghan finally announced that it was time for them to move on, which was met with groans and complaints from his classmates. They said goodbye to Bruce and set off on the long hallway towards the elevators. Ned had shuffled up beside Peter with MJ close behind and began talking to him animatedly about the work Peter did with Bruce Banner. Peter was only sort of listening because he could feel the buildup of anxiety getting worse and worse as the trip went on. At this point he could barely stop his hands from shaking as his brain ran wild about the possible things that could go wrong from here. He hadn't realized that he was tapping his hip obsessively until he felt a cold hand slip into his and squeeze. He looked over to see MJ giving him a knowing look. His cheeks heated up, but he smiled, feeling a little better. He didn't have to tell her anything, but he could tell she understood somewhat of what he was feeling. This was okay. Ned, still talking, was oblivious to everything. They reached the elevator and went up a level to a floor Peter avoided with all his power: the Avengers Museum.

His class was easily most excited about this. The floor below them was the Stark Industries museum, but after their segway with Bruce they only had time for one of them and the decision was, almost, unanimous. Peter was interested in the other superheroes exhibits for sure, but because Spider-Man was a rather popular hero among the "little guy" and because Tony _loves _to make fun of Peter's early costume, there was a pretty big Spider-Man display. Most of the class went there first, including Flash and Ned, who dragged Peter along, who dragged MJ along.

"I can't believe that's what you used to wear" Ned whisper shouted at Peter, seemingly not understanding the principle of quiet.

"Shhh! Geez, Ned, quiet." No one had heard though, they were all running around looking at the exhibit for the original Avengers and, of course, the entire room devoted to old Mark models and the history of Iron Man.

"I don't think I'm ever going to forgive you for not telling me you're a web slinging neighborhood superhero" MJ elbowed him in the ribs with that. Peter had literally never _told _anyone that he was Spider-Man. Ned had seen him, May had seen him. Tony Stark had researched him or whatever. And last year MJ had figured it out, being the only one who ever put two and two together. She realized that Peter always disappeared when Spider-Man arrived and she'd noticed how he missed school and practice literally all the time. She had seen how he suddenly had no trouble in PE seemingly overnight. She had confronted him shortly after homecoming, and in doing so admitted how much she'd been watching him over the years. Since then there had been a mutual liking that only Ned had the guts to bring up.

"Well next time I get bit by a radioactive spider, you'll be the first to know."

"Thank you, I appreciate that." She smiled, grabbing his hand again and swinging it with hers, they looked at each other for a moment both feeling briefly content before being interrupted by their third wheel.

"Yeah, yeah, y'all are adorable. Let's keep going" Ned snarked and grappled the other two's hands. They blushed and followed their friend to the Thor display.

They had moved on to the Hawkeye display when Peter felt a shiver in his neck. This time, however, he recognized the feeling. Instead of the slow burning anxious tingle, this was the feeling he was accustomed to. This is why it was no surprise, to _him_ at least, when the figure he was just looking at pictures of, dropped out of an air vent right above him. He stepped out of the way right before Hawkeye, AKA Clint Barton, landed on the floor with a whoopf. Several people gasped and a couple let out screaches. Peter, on the other hand, let out a groan.

"Wow, you sound real happy to see me." Clint said with a smile. Peter gave an exaggerated, sarcastic grin.

"Oh my god it's Hawkeye" Flash said from the other side of the room. At the speed of light, all of Peter's swarmed around the man, who had grabbed Peter's shoulder before the boy could back away.

"My buddy, Pete, here is embarrassed by me. Aren't you little Petey?" Peter rolled his eyes and broke away. His classmates laughed, partially amazed they were standing in front of Clint Barton, and also bemused by Peter's relationship with him. The boy went over to stand near MJ who was watching this scene from a couple steps back and smirking.

"Are you smirking because of me or our idiot classmates?"

"A combination." She said simply, "you'd think that Ned has never been here before."

"Yeah really. I'm going to kill Clint later." MJ raised her eyebrows

"Sure you are Petey" she said, putting her arm around his neck and walking towards the group to hear what was being said.

"Now, if it's all okay with your teacher and tour guide, I thought I might take you guys up to the Avengers training room." Excited gasps and whispers were heard as the class turned around to look Meghan, Mr. Harrington and Mr. Dell.

"You want to… um I mean sure, of course," Meghan said, looking dumbfounded, "if it okay with…" she looked over at Mr. Harrington who looked just about as excited and the kids.

"Y-yeah sure!" He flustered.

Peter watched all of this unfold in dismay. This was not good. Very much so. From the way Clint's eyes gleamed as he led them to the elevator, to the shaking of Peter's hands again, he knew this was going to be a disaster.

**This one was shorter but I think the next one will be longer. Comment are ****_always _****appreciated. Goodbye and good luck in these trying times!**


	10. Chapter 10

**I think I've got three to four chapters left.**

The Avengers training room took up an entire floor. Training _rooms _actually, there were multiple. Since whenever there wasn't an international crisis that required the Avenger's attention, really the only thing they could do as a team was train (and prank each other but that could happen _anywhere) _they needed a lot of space. The elevator opened up to a common area where you could find the occasional hero after training for a while. A couple couches were positioned around a coffee table and along the wall was a small kitchenette with a sink and a fridge.

"This is our post-training room or whatever, it's not super interesting, but right through here is our pool and weight room," The pool was huge, Peter didn't know the exact size but it started at a half foot deep and gradually dropped to 12 feet. He didn't use it that much, never being that much into swimming. The weight room was bigger than it had to be, too, with weights ranging from 135 to 700 pounds (for the non-enhanced) and beyond (for Cap and Thor, and Peter of course, but he always felt silly lifting weights).

"Over here in an indoor field track area-thing where we play football or soccer sometimes," it wasn't a full field, the floor wasn't _that _big, but it was good sized. Big enough for the occasional scrimmage. This was something Peter happily took part in. He had always liked soccer when he was younger, but he'd never been that good at it on account of his asthma. After the bite he didn't feel comfortable playing sports anymore, it wasn't fair. But of course, when you played with the Avengers, anything was fair game. Last scrimmage Thor ended up walking the ball through a window with his hammer.

"Over there is the cardio room with treadmills and elliptical and stuff, next to it is the yoga room, which don't laugh, it's hard work," Clint was looking at Flash who had scoffed. When Peter had started training with the Avengers, he was initially surprised by the yoga, too. Somehow Nat had convinced everyone to try it. Even Tony did, not without the snide comment, but still. After his first time trying it however, he understood quite how much work it actually was. Even his spider-mutated body was sore.

The class had been ooh-ing and ah-ing throughout this tour, bounding along behind Clint like a band of clingy puppies. Flash was secretly admiring the layout of the floors, Betty was writing down every single possible detail she could see, Ned was quietly asking Peter a quadrillion questions, MJ was still holding Peter hand and quietly listening to Ned and Peter's one sided conversation, and Peter felt like he was falling. Finally, they reached the last room with a sickening halt.

"This… is the sparring room."

_Shit_

In front of them was a large room. Several mats were laid out, each one surrounded by a couple benches. On the sides of the room, a variety of weapons were displayed ranging from (dull) swords to nunchucks. This was easily the most used room on the training floor. The Avengers, despite being a team, loved to beat each other. And of course, speak of the devil, sparring on the closest mat to the group, was Captain America and Black Widow. Clint ushered the stunned teens into the room and Nat and Steve stopped sparring to greet them.

"Hey… guys," Steve started lamely, "I'm Steve." Peter could tell he felt awkward. Steve had been awkward around Peter when they first met, too. He just had no experience with kids at all. He didn't really need to, though, they were st.l going to be impressed by him.

"And I'm Natasha, you'll have to excuse our Steve here, he's afraid of kids." The AcaDeca team laughed nervously at that. "I'm glad to meet you guys, the famous Academic Decathlon team. Peter's told us all about you guys." Peter's face heated up as his classmates' jaws dropped. Not because Natasha Romanoff knew Peter Parker, at this point it was well established that Peter knew the Avengers personally , even to Flash. Just the idea of being an unnamed teammate mentioned to the Black Widow astounded them.

"So you guys see everything?" Nat asked as she picked up a towel and her water bottle, "the labs, the offices, the museums?" She was met with fervent nods and non-verbal affirmations.

"You guys can talk right?" The class laughed a little and Ned awkwardly said "yeah", "ah, Ned right? I've met you before with Peter. Nice to see you again."

Ned nodded quickly, saying a quick: "you too"

"Ookay, Well today I thought we could go over some basic self defense moves." She announced, leading them further into the room. "Steve'll help too" She motioned at the super soldier standing awkwardly behind her.

"Everyone grab two partners and we can get started." The tension broke a little when the class started grouping up. Peter looked immediately at Ned and MJ at the same time they did. They picked a mat towards the back. Nat took a position with Steve and demonstrated a move where she blocked a punch that he threw by hitting it away with her forearm. Then she aimed with her other hand a punch at his ribs, lightly obviously, probably not even enough for Steve to feel anything.

"Now, make sure you don't actually punch your friends, obviously. Just like a touch with your fist should be it." The kids around them tried to recreate the move, poorly mostly, since none of them had any sort of training. Nat and Steve walked around to show people individually. Peter's group wasn't doing any better than the others. Ned was absolutely hopeless, barely coordinated enough to hit the slow motion punch Peter threw, and certainly wasn't able to throw a punch after it. MJ was better, but not by much. She blocked Ned's fist well enough and aimed an awkward punch. Peter, of course, could do this in his sleep, but he wasn't going to show other people that. And he didn't want to hurt MJ. Not to mention his muscles felt shaky and exhausted from all the stress of the day. When MJ's fist came towards him he half-heartedly blocked it and punched. MJ frowned and cocked her head.

"Come on now, I _know _you can do better than that." She said, prepping to aim again.

"I'm not going to do it again." Peter sighed, stepping off the mat.

"Aw, come on, Peter, you got to show me how to actually do it!" Ned whined, still practicing the move.

"No"

"But what if I need to use it some day," he said, swinging a punch at the air and stumbling.

"Why don't you leave the fighting to Peter?" MJ scoffed

"Okay, everyone Cap and I will come around to see how you guys are doing," Nat made eye contact with Peter, "let's start over here shall we?"

"Noo, Nat" Peter groaned, seeing the look in her eye, "please no?"

"Come on, маленький паук" Nat said, dragging Peter to the central mat. Peter knew what that meant, she'd been calling him _Little Spider _for awhile, and just recently told him what it was in Russian. There was a little risk that one of his classmates knew what that meant, but when he searched their faces he saw only confusion.

"No, старый паук," He butchered the pronunciation, but she understood enough to scoff at his use of старый which meant old (he had used google translate). By this point she'd dragged him all the way to the center mat and was squaring off to him.

"Really Nat, come on!" Peter whined, fully aware his entire team was watching him.

"What's the worst that could happen, Peter? You show off some skill to your friends?"

"I could lose control. I could expose myself." He said in a hushed whisper.

"You're not going to, Peter. You're the most controlled out of all of us." Nat assured, "come on now, live a little. I'm not going to give up"

She had a point. Maybe this was a bad idea. Well, it was definitely a bad idea, but maybe it was just the bad idea he needed. He really did have control over himself. He could fight back against Flash, against anyone that messed with him, but he didn't. Because he had great power, so he had great responsibility. Ben was still right about that.

"...fine" he huffed, taking his position. Natasha smiled, before throwing the first punch. He was expecting her to start like that, so she could still demonstrate the move. So he played along, blocking her punch with his forearm and going for her side, lightly still, but less light than he did with Ned. She of course was expecting that, and she let him hit her slightly before maneuvering out of the way and going for Peter's shoulder. He dodged that and spun around behind her. It went on like this for a couple minutes and Peter's classmates watched the dance-like rhythm. They finally stopped when Nat moved quickly enough to confuse Peter's senses and pinned him down. She helped him up and he walked over to Ned who was looking at him as if he was the coolest guy on the planet. Actually, most of his class was looking at him like that. Even MJ looked suitably impressed. Peter felt lighter. His shaking subsided at the feeling of exhaustion and the compliments from his classmates. For a moment, it seemed like all would be okay. That was, until he heard a snarky voice from the back of the group.

"So Parker, I think I got you figured out."

_Damn_

**oooh... I actually like Flash as a character but for the purpose of this story, he's gonna be an asshole. Is it possible I'm using every single trope for a field trip fic? Mayyybe**


	11. Chapter 11

**Hey! Here the next chapter, and its a little longer than usual, woohoo! On my last chapter someone asked me how I could like Flash, and honestly, its because I read the Archive of our Own fic, "Sincerity is Scary" by Azumarhart (i think thats the author's name) and its ****_really _****good. Anyway, enjoy!**

"Flash, it's really in your best interest to shut up," Peter said in a hushed voice. He approached Flash warily, keeping his eyes trained on Nat and Steve talking to the other kids.

"No no Penis, really I want to compliment you," Flash said with a scheming look.

"Oh really," Peter deadpanned, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"Yeah really. Because I mean, you work here or something. I can see that. I'm not dumb. And the Avengers know you, yeah sure. But what I can't explain is how. How did someone like you even come into contact with Natasha Romanoff? How could Bruce Banner possibly ever meet you?" Peter normally would have ignored all of this. Ignored Flash and the little bit of hurt he always caused and his own voice in the back of his head that wondered where he would be right now without his powers. But maybe it was the sparring or the working in the labs or the encouragement from his peers that made Peter feel weirdly _confident_. And he didn't like where Flash's spiel was going. He could feel the eyes on them, but whether it was his classmates or Nat and Steve, his spidey sense couldn't tell. Either way it wasn't great.

"Flash, really _back off_," Flash took a step forward.

"What are you going to do? Fight me?" Flash let out a cold laugh, "oh wait, you couldn't take me even if you did have the guts to," At this point Peter was tired of this. He obviously wasn't going to fight Flash, but his constant determination to overlook any facts in order to devalue Peter was actually quite astonishing.

"Flash, I mean I'm no superhero, but I've trained with some. You literally just saw me spar with Natasha Romanoff. Or are you just going to ignore that?"

"Oh I'm not ignoring that. I'm the only one who isn't ignoring how none of this makes any sense. Everyone else just blindly follows you, likes you like you're some sort of hero. But you're not. Because I figured it out. Why you're always late, why you're so mysterious." Now Peter started to worry. Did he know? How could he? Peter turned and started to walk away, the new found confidence waning. He figured it wasn't even worth it to do this now.

"You're… you've got some sorta creepy deal going on here. I always thought you were freaky but you must have some sorta magic mouth for the Avengers to actually like you this much. You get on your knees in exchange for them making you look cool? Flash finished, looking triumphant at his reveal.

Peter almost laughed at how wrong Flash was until he realized just what the other was implying. He stopped, eyes wide, heart pounding so loud that it seemed crazy other people couldn't hear it, too. Then, slowly he turned around, his shaky fists clenched. That was too far. That was… Peter's thought we're muddled with fury about Flash's implication on the Avengers.

"That's fucking distrusting! I can't believe you…" He was about to yell at Flash for the first time in a long time, until he was interrupted by a furious Black Widow and Captain America pushing in front of him. Peter's class looked on surprisedly, and some of them looked almost angry, too.

"Now look here you little shit, you say one more word on Peter and I swear I rip your puny…"

"Nat…"

"No Steve, we can't let that son of a bitch get away with saying that."

"Oh, I'm not planning on it." Steve Rogers turned to face the now-trembling boy. "It's just hurting him on company property is a liability waiting to happen. As much as I want to hurt the little asshole"

Peter had never seen this side of Steve. He straight up was terrifying, towering over Flash looking ready to squash him with just his thumb. Nat, of course, looked just as menacing, but Peter had seen _her_ like that. Peter himself was shaking with rage and exhaustion and this stupid anxiety he had been feeling for days. His whole body felt on edge this time, he felt like he was about to collapse. He couldn't breath. He was suffocating. He was being crushed. His entire body was falling and there was nothing he could do about it, until all of a sudden: it stopped. He took a breath, confused by this sudden change. Then, he felt a final shiver down his spine, and he became alert. Something was wrong.

Nat looked just about ready to say something else, before a wailing alarm rang overhead. Steve and Nat looked at each other, briefly before running to get their respective weapons.

"Friday, what's happening?" "Peter asked. His classmates, Meghan, Mr. Dell and Mr. Harrington were all looking at him like he would know what to do.

"There appears to be an intruder on One of the lower floors. I suggest that you find one of the designated safe areas located on an upper floor." At that, panic broke out among the civilians in the group, and they were all still looking at Peter. Peter looked over to Nat and Steve who were headed towards the elevator.

"Peter, take your class upstairs, now!"

"But, I can hel…" He protested.

"Get your friends to safety." Nat said firmly.

"Fine, okay right, good luck!" He called out. They got in the elevator going down, while Peter lead his distraught classmates, teachers, and tour guide into another elevator.

"What are we doing? Where are we going? We need to find a safe place!" Mr Harrington panicked.

"Shouldn't we be getting out of the building?" Betty asked frantically.

"The intruders are on the lower levels, there's no way of knowing if we could get out safely. But don't worry, the Avengers penthouse is probably the safest place in this building." Peter assured them while he swiped his key card and punched the top level button. The elevator shot up before stopping at the desired floor. The group stumbled out, falling to the floor in relief.

"Friday, is the building on lockdown?" When the AI responded "no", Peter said: "well put it on lock down now."

"Putting the building on lockdown now." A large metal door slid over the elevator doors, and the same happened along the giant windows along the side. He turned around to face the group once more.

"Friday, what do we know about the intruders?" They all listened carefully at her response.

"A group of 4 to 5 armed men entered through the front doors, grabbed hostages and made their way up to the 4th floor. Boss is in his suit on his way there, now. Would you like me to call him?" Peter was tempted to, but he wasn't worried about Tony and keeping civilians safe was the more pressing issue.

"Are any of the men mutated or have powers? They're all human?"

"There have been no signs that they are in any way mutated or extraterrestrial."

"Scan for vibranium, nanotechnology or alien tech, Friday."

"Scanning… Scanning complete, there are no signs of vibranium, nanotechnology, or extraterrestrial tech." Peter sighed. That was good. The Avengers could handle some random humans, no problem. The rest of the people in the room saw his relief and noticeably relaxed a little.

"The Avengers have got this handled, it'll be fine. Uhh… in the meantime you guys can sit down," he motioned to the couches in the living room, "and uhh, make yourself at home. You could probably watch a movie or something." Abraham, who still looked a little shook, spoke up first.

"Is this… uh, is this where the Avengers live?"

"Um… well, no. Well, Tony lives here with Pepper and Morgan, the Avengers live on the floor below." Some people looked crestfallen, although given the circumstances they decided this was cool, too.

After Thanos, Tony had bought back the tower and remodeled, wanting a nice, new start. The elevator opened up to the living room, with a semicircle of various couches and chairs, all within a blue and yellow color palette. To the left was the kitchen, marble countertops, two ovens, a fridge, a toaster, basically all the usual stuff, but fancier. There was also a very big island in the middle of it, with bar stools in front of it. Beyond that there was a table that sat 15 people comfortably. To the right of the living room was a hallway where there was Morgan's room, Morgan's playroom, Tony and Pepper's room, a couple of guest rooms and… Peter's room.

At first when Tony had shown Peter his room, he'd been confused. He asked Tony what the room was for, and only when the older man gave him that you're-so-clueless-its-annoying look did Peter realize what he had just gotten.

"_No! I can't take this. It's too much!" _

"_Please, kid, it's barely anything. I've got so many guest rooms anyway, I might as well let you have one. It's just a place for you to put your stuff when you're here, or if you ever wanted to stay over or whatever." _

There had been a pause before Peter ran and hugged Tony, who hugged him back stiffly.

The room was twice the size of his room in Queens, something that had taken some getting used to. The walls were gray, but there was a light blue and yellow motif among the items inside. Unbeknownst to the public, Tony Stark has an eye for home design. In one corner was a bunk bed, Tony had specifically asked Peter about all the furniture and, reluctantly since he felt weird about all the gifts, Peter had told him he liked bunk beds. In the other was his desk, with some old papers and legos he had been tinkering with last time he was here. There were shelves along one wall with all sorts of Lego creations and books and such, and a door that led to his bathroom next to them. On the other side was a large flat screen because when Tony gives gifts, he goes all out. It's a wonder that Morgan wasn't more of a brat. Peter's heart jolted for a moment when he remembered about Morgan, before realizing she was at school right now, anyway.

Once the AcaDeca team settled down and took Peter's suggestion of watching a movie, Peter snuck back into his room. He sat down to catch his breath for a moment, and to think about what he was going to do. He couldn't leave his class up here, and he was sure the Avengers could handle the intruders. They probably already had, and they were still on lockdown just to be safe. Still, he quickly changed into his suit and then pulled his jeans and sweater back on over it. When he walked back out, his class, and his teachers were watching _The Incredibles_. Ned and MJ looked at him pointedly so he pulled them aside.

"What's going on? Are you going to go down there?" Ned whispered

"I don't know, I want to but I can't leave you guys up here. And Tony probably has it handled already, anyway."

"And if he doesn't?" MJ asked

"He does," she raised her eyebrows at him, "if push comes to shove, I'm wearing my suit under here anyway." He pulled the fabric below his sleeve to show them.

"Right. Ok then," She said, shrugging, "have you got stuff to eat? I'm thinking that despite the 'trauma' people are still going to be hungry."

"Right, yeah… umm." He turned around into the kitchen, "we've got pasta? Popcorn? Poptarts? I don't know…"

"What, is your kitchen alphabetized?" She laughed, as she opened more cabinets "Dude, you've got tons of food here. Ned, go ask what people want."

"On it!" When he left the kitchen, MJ turned to face Peter.

"Hey… are you okay?" She asked cautiously.

"Yeah, I'm not worried about anyone stupid enough to walk into Stark Industries just like that." She gave him a look.

"No, I know that. I mean everything, all… this." She waved her arms, gesturing to the group of teens trying to decide what to eat. He knew what she was trying to say. His classmates that he had so desperately tried to keep out of his other life all of a sudden we're in his living space, including the dick who just insinuated that he provided sexual favors to the Avengers in order for them to like him.

When he thought about it, however, he realized that the shivering had stopped in the heat of the moment. And he could still hear his heart pounding, but in a real adrenaline way, not his anxiety telling him there was danger. Maybe his senses were warning him in advance. He knew that didn't really make sense, it had never happened before. But he wasn't going to worry about that right now. Ned came back with a list of ideas before Peter could answer MJ's question and once they decided mini pizzas were the way to go, Peter had forgotten all about the question anyway.

**Yeah, I know I just said that I like Flash and then made him suck in this chapter but I needed a plot point. At some point I want to write a redemption fic for him. Comments are always appreciated! Byee.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Sorry, for the late chapter. I took a break for Easter and some other stuff, but I'm back and I got chapter 12!  
There's one thing I wanted to clear up but I forgot to mention it awhile ago. My timeline is a little weird here. Obviously, endgame and the blip didn't happen, I'm ignoring all that. But Thanos did come, they just beat him during infinity war or something. MJ did not find out Peter was spiderman in europe, but she confronted him in a similar way during their junior year. Anyway, here you go, enjoy!**

Everyone was enjoying their mini pizzas when Friday announced that the Avengers apprehended the intruders but are keeping the building on lockdown until further notice to be safe.

"You guys should probably text your parents, we were supposed to be back at the school in… 20 minutes." Peter looked at the digital clock.

"Do you really think it'll last that long?" Betty asked

"I dunno, just to be safe, though, tell them you might be a little late."

They finished up and continued watching _The Incredibles. _Peter stayed in the kitchen and asked Friday about the lockdown ETA. Nothing new. At this point they had been there a half an hour longer than planned and Peter was feeling almost suspicious that the Avengers were tricking him or something. He shoved that thought out of his head, reminding himself that, even though lots of them were immature dicks who liked to tease each other, they were also fully grown adults who from time to time saved the world and _did _care about Peter's wellbeing (see the Flash incident). Locking him in his living space as Stark Tower with his classmates would be over the line. There's probably some procedure to secure the tower. He sat down next to Ned on the couch to watch the movie with the rest of them.

When the movies finished, people were starting to become restless, looking to Peter for why they hadn't been released yet.

"Friday, what are the Avengers doing right now? What's taking so long?"

"There has been no new information since you last asked me that 10 minutes ago." He swore he heard some sass in her tone, "Would you lik… Boss just informed me that the intruders in captivity claim there are others in the building. We will remain on lockdown until they can search the tower entirely."

"Search the tower? Aren't there like 90 floors? We're going to be stuck here forever!" Flash yelled

"Chill, Flash. It'll go faster than you think. They have trained superheroes on the job." Peter assured

"How can you be so sure? How could _you_ even know them that well?"

"Oh please Flash."

"I'm serious. All that was proven to me today was that the Avengers are easily bribed and Penis will do anything to look like a hero."

"You're kidding me, _Eugene. _Are you really that stupid or do you just ignore every fact thrown at you?" MJ said

"I don't know, Michelle, how are you going to ignore that he's worthless and it doesn't make sense that he could possibly have a job here."

"You're sick, you know that, Flash?" She was enraged now, her fiery stare the most menacing thing Peter's had ever seen. And he'd seen a lot. He was running out of patience, though. And he didn't want MJ to keep defending him. Flash was on his last nerve.

"Ok, Michelle. I'll stop talking about him. What about you? _I'm Michelle and I act like I'm smarter than everyone because I read and stuff. Oh, I've got family trauma and am so jaded about life. _You're just as phony as Penis" And that was it. Peter watched the look on MJ's face falter slightly, even though she remained stoic. It was fine when Flash teases Peter, annoying sure, but he was not just going to sit there and let Flash go after others. So, finally, after years of taunts and bullying, Peter snapped.

"Just, stop!" Peter yelled. Everyone looked at him. Most were surprised, some looked impressed, Flash was enraged.

"What did you say-?"

"Just, stop. Mess with me? Fine, but don't mess with my friends."

"Oh, look he's playing the hero aga—"

"Oh my god, just shut up! How can I get it into your head that I don't care what you say about me? Like at all? All you do is make fun of the people around you just to make yourself feel big. And all day you blatantly ignore everything that confirms that I know the Avengers just so you can feel justified to make some sick little joke. I mean for god's sake I have my own room here! I come here every friday! They threw me a _birthday party_ this year! I don't owe you an explanation and I think I speak for everyone when I say you should just stop talking."

_Whoa_

Silence. Pure, shocked silence. And _everyone _was shocked now. Ned, of course, and MJ, too. Mr. Harrington and Mr. Dell, it had just come to their attention something was going on, stood in the back stunned. Flash looked especially surprised. For years he had almost waited for Peter to break, but at some point he decided it was never going to happen. He had no response other than opening his mouth and then deciding it would be better just to leave the room. He scurried off and Ned pulled over to Peter.

"That. Was. Amazing. Do you know how long I've waited for you to do that?"

"I shouldn't have, it's just going to make things worse, once Flash comes up with a comeback." Peter said, but he was smiling slightly

"Did you see his face, though? It was _soo _worth it."

Peter smiled, but he wasn't really sure how he felt. Part of him was happy he did it, but the other part was feeling shaky again. Everything felt muddled as he sat down in the nearby chair. The low chatter of his impressed classmates faded. He closed his eyes, recognizing the familiar feeling. The shiver down his spine came right before he heard it.

The cock of a gun.

Right behind the locked elevator door.

**Like I was going to let Peter get away without some action. We're nearing the final stretch here! Like 2 more chapters to go probably, and maybe a short epilogue. Comments are always appreciated!**


End file.
